The Algeria wildfires have claimed 12 lives and left 54 people injured. Flames tore through several northeastern provinces on Wednesday, interior minister Saïd Sayoud confirmed.
Sayoud told reporters the deaths were spread across three provinces. Five people died in Jijel, four in Bejaia and three in Tizi Ouzou, he said. Strong winds pushed the blazes toward residential areas overnight.
The minister made the announcement during a visit to a hospital in Souk El Thenine, a town in Bejaia. He checked on victims being treated for burns and smoke inhalation there. According to Sayoud, 54 people were admitted with burn injuries. Six of them remain in critical condition.
Civil Protection teams recorded 159 vegetation fires nationwide by 8pm local time on Wednesday. It is a toll that shows how widespread this latest round of Algeria wildfires has become. Of those blazes, 90 had been brought under control. Sixty nine were still burning.
Bejaia bore the heaviest strain of the Algeria wildfires. Thirty six separate fire outbreaks were reported in the province alone. Firefighters had only managed to contain half of them by the time Sayoud spoke. In Jijel, flames continued to burn across a dozen municipalities well into the evening.
Elsewhere, crews reported more success. Blazes in Skikda, El Tarf, Bouira, Tizi Ouzou and Tebessa provinces were largely contained. That eased pressure on Civil Protection resources stretched between multiple fire fronts since morning.
Dozens of families fled their homes as smoke thickened over affected neighbourhoods. Footage circulated by a regional outlet showed residents sheltering inside a post office in Jijel. Ash drifted through the streets outside, a scene now grimly familiar during Algeria’s fire season.
Three major highways linking eastern regions were shut down. Firefighting convoys and evacuation traffic competed for road space near Bejaia, Jijel and Setif, gendarmerie officials said. That complicated an already difficult response.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune instructed Sayoud to travel to the affected region. Health minister Mohamed Seddik Ait Messaoudene joined him. The pair oversaw containment efforts and checked on hospitalised victims in Bejaia.
This is not an isolated event. Algeria wildfires have become an almost annual hazard during the peak summer months. Punishing heat and tinder dry vegetation across the country’s forested north drive the pattern each year. At least six people were killed in similar fires just last month.
The pattern echoes July 2023, when more than 30 people died as fires swept through Bejaia. Thousands of hectares of forest and farmland burned. Hundreds of homes were destroyed. Authorities have logged nearly 2,000 fires nationwide this year alone.
Scientists have repeatedly linked the intensifying frequency of Algeria wildfires to rising Mediterranean temperatures. Prolonged drought leaves forests drier earlier each summer. Wednesday’s toll comes barely a month after the previous deadly outbreak. It will likely renew scrutiny of the country’s firefighting capacity.
For now, Civil Protection teams remain deployed across the northeast as the Algeria wildfires continue to burn. Dozens of hotspots were still active as of Wednesday night.
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